


Returning Home

by Natterina



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, post kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 17:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17770925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natterina/pseuds/Natterina
Summary: They return to the Land of Departure on a sunny mid-morning, happy to be reunited, and for once peace does not seem to be a distant hope on the horizon.And then the sun sets, and darkness closes in.





	Returning Home

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: This contains some KH3 spoilers as it's set after the game!
> 
> It's been a while since I've posted! I'm thankfully back in my writing zone. Sadly, there's not likely to be a lot of Soriku coming from me for a while, if only because for me they did the whole destiny trio terribly, but hopefully I'll come up with something soon.
> 
> But on the good side, probably going to be a fair bit of Terraqua even if they could have had more scenes! The end of this has been left fairly open, seeing as who even knows what was going on in that secret ending!

 

Aqua is the first to feel it.

The moment the gummi touches down in the gardens of the Land of Departure, they are busier than they ever have been. There is a castle that has not been inhabited for over twelve years, a garden that has been trapped in time and a magical barrier that has been degrading over time. There is much to do, much to catch up on, and they spend the day outside laughing and talking, a deep joy settled in their hearts despite the losses of the battle the day previously.

Most of the others are recuperating or also enjoying the reunion with their friends, and Aqua and Terra had decided returning to the Land of Departure was a task best done sooner rather than later.

They talk well into the night until Ventus, falling asleep against the steps that lead up to the castle, suggests that perhaps it is time to sleep. They separate automatically, no thought to the gesture, and Aqua heads down the left corridor as Terra and Ventus head for the right.

To their old rooms, the echoes of their old lives.

Aqua is the first to feel it because she is the first to be left alone. Wandering down the corridor to her old bedroom is unsettling, too many shadows in the darkness outside the light of her lantern, but she swallows thickly and carries on.

The fear rises in her throat, a heavy ball in her chest that feels stuck, and Aqua becomes uncomfortably cold as the dark around her twists and turns. The fear turns her stomach and makes her clench her teeth, fearful that out of the shadows will come that ball of dark magic that the young Xehanort had thrown at her.

Aqua’s steps quicken, and she does not stop until she has slammed the door to her bedroom shut. She leans against it heavily, her fingers scraping on the wood, unable to remember where the light switch is in her panic.

When she does find it, her fingers fumble over the switch, and for a long moment she fears the electrics in the castle have stopped working.

But the room floods with a warm yellow light, and the familiarity of a bedroom she has not seen in twelve years is a comfort beyond what she could ever believe. She can almost, _almost_ pretend that it is the eve of her exam, but the room is musty and she dare not open the window.

Aqua lies awake in bed for hours, unwilling to turn the light off. With every moment she closes her eyes she begins to feel like she is falling back under the ocean, an irrational fear that the darkness behind her lids is _the darkness_ closing in. She is cold, so so cold, and not even the sun in Destiny Islands had warmed her, not properly.

She cannot sleep, because the last time she slept was twelve years earlier, and as the hours press on Aqua begins to wonder if she has forgotten how.

Someone knocks on her door.

* * *

Terra and Ventus part at the doors to Ventus’ bedroom, the first one on the corridor. Next to Ventus’ room was the bedroom belonging to Eraqus, and opposite that one is Terra’s.

They part fondly, with Ventus turning around as his hand touches the door to wrap his arms tightly around Terra’s frame. The older man gasps in surprise, but Ventus has his head pressed against Terra’s chest, and if their eyes are a little watery, well, no one is here to see.

So Terra hugs him back, and cannot even process how happy he is that he can do so.

“I’m… I’m glad you’re back, Terra.”

“I missed you, Ven.”

Ventus beams up at him, before the arms around his waist loosen and the blond boy nods his goodnight. Terra waits until he hears Ventus lock his door before heading for his own, satisfied Ventus will be okay in his room.

Terra's issue is not that he cannot sleep.

It's what happens when he does.

He is too busy marvelling at being back in control of his own body to worry much about what lurks in the shadows of his mind. He is still a little wobbly on his feet, but his room still smells familiar and though he is not proud of who he was when he last occupied them, the fact that he is here at all is a relief. The shower in his room still works, though he lets it run for a few minutes nevertheless. The castle may have been trapped in time, but the thought of stale water is not one he wants to entertain, and he is too eager to get rid of the stench of Xehanort from his clothes to wait until the morning.

But when he is finally clean and lying in a bed which is almost absurdly too small for him, when he finally finally drifts off into sleep, the problems start.

With each time he dozes lightly, close to dropping off to sleep, Terra jerks awake panting in his bed. That brief moment between dozing and sleep is too similar to the moments he would lose control to Xehanort, breaking through only to be pulled back. The darkness of sleep is no longer inviting, only a risk of losing control once more. When he finally sleeps, a nightmare consumes him.

He is Xehanort again, long fingers wrapping around Aqua's throat, Ventus' bloody body broken on the ground before him. He is Terra, screaming inside and unable to fight back, and the scene changes to watching his friends fall that terrible distance with the chains wrapped tight around them.

Only this time, Terra cannot control the heartless, and his friends hit the floor with a sickening thud. 

He jerks upright once more, only this time he is sweating even as a chill runs down his spine. His fingers scrape against his palms as he grinds his teeth, desperate to feel as though he is control again. The shadows in his room begin to bother him, too silent and unmoving. Terra briefly begins to panic, irrationally wondering if he is trapped in his own mind again.

He's not sure he could survive it, were it to happen again.

Swallowing his fear, Terra makes for the door, no idea where he is going but intending to go anywhere but his bedroom. The shadows are just that, but fear turns them into the welcoming embrace of the darkness, and he dare not drop his guard.

At the end of his corridor he looks down the one opposite, and is surprised to find a light shining out from under Aqua's door.

It is not hard to decide that he'd rather see her than travel further through the dark castle, and so Terra carefully heads down the corridor and steels himself before knocking sharply on her door.

He has goosebumps on his arms, but if that is from the cool air, the smell of fear, or the realisation that this is his first time alone with Aqua in twelve years, he doesn't know.

There is no response from the other side of the door, and Terra frowns. There is no sound at all on the other side, not even small movements from someone deep in sleep.

He wonders if she is trapped in the room with the same fear of the darkness that plagues him.

Slowly but loudly, Terra pushes down the door handle, intending to wake her if she is not already up. When he steps around the door he sees her shoulders physically slump in relief, and the keyblade in her hand shines starkly in the light.

“Can’t sleep?” Her voice is clear, confirming to him that she has been awake as long as he has. He shakes his head in answer, closing the door behind him.

“Can you?”

“I’m not sure I remember how.”

As Terra walks further into her room, Aqua pats the bed gently, allowing him to sit down if he chooses. He does, keeping a bit of distance between them. Aqua has always been a very tactile friend, but Terra no longer knows what is welcome and what is not, and he would not blame her if his closeness were to make her flinch.

To his surprise, Aqua reaches out, taking his hand in her own and tangling her cold fingers through his. She rests her other hand atop their joined ones, and her grip is almost painful.

It is surprisingly grounding, his ability to grip back just as tightly a reminder that he controls his own body now.

“Every time I close my eyes, it feels like I’m letting go, letting Xehanort take over again.”

“You’re strong, Terra, stronger than you’ve ever been. He’ll never be able to control you again.” Her thumb runs across his knuckles, and it’s strange to realise that he’s not seen her without her fingerless gloves on for a very long time.

He remembers when they were teenagers, when they would change out of their training clothes into outfits that better suited the warm days of the Land of Departure. That had changed in the last few years they were here, when their training sessions lasted all day. There’s something vulnerable to them both, sitting here in shorts and t-shirts.

“I know he won’t, but-“

“It’s easier said than done?” At his nod, she smiles. “I know. Come on, neither of us are getting any sleep in separate rooms.”

With a tug, Aqua beckons him into laying down on her bed, and he doesn’t miss the way she ensures he is the one with his back to the door. It encloses her in between himself and the wall, and he hopes it offers her some comfort. Terra stretches his arm out and Aqua settles herself in, one hand reaching out to grasp at the fabric of his shirt.

They are painfully close, and both of them are hyper aware of it. But Terra can only be grateful for it: not even in his wildest dreams could he have foreseen her willingly coming this close to him again, not after everything Xehanort had done whilst wearing his face.

“Do you think Ven’s okay?” Her head is level with his chest, tucked under his chin, and he can feel her words vibrate against his sternum.

He frowns.

“I didn’t hear anything from his room. Should we check on him?”

Aqua shakes her head.

“No, leave him be. I’d hate to wake him up if he’s the only one getting any sleep.”

“He has that cat with him, if he does wake up.”

Aqua hums a laugh into his chest.

“I don’t think the Chirithy will appreciate being called a cat.”

He doesn’t either, but he still doesn’t know _what_ it is.

Carefully, still afraid she might flinch away, Terra puts his free arm over Aqua, using it to pull her a little closer and keeping his hand between her shoulder blades. To his surprise, she relaxes further under the weight of his arm. It is comfortable for now, but neither of them are likely to fall asleep like this. They remain in companionable silence for nearly an hour, before Terra can finally feel like his eyelids aren’t just closed for comfort.

Aqua’s head lies on his bicep, as his arm curls so that his fingers comb gently through the ends of her hair. Her eyes are closed, but her breathing is shallow enough that he knows she cannot be asleep. He tilts his head down, pressing a kiss to her hair. It is too tender a gesture to be mistaken for anything else, but at least she can pretend to be asleep if she finds it unwelcome.

She shifts, the hand that bunches the fabric of his shirt tightens, and Terra thinks they’re standing on the precipice of a moment.

Ventus’ scream shatters the silence.

* * *

Ventus' situation is the utter opposite of Aqua and Terra's. He is rational enough to know that nothing lurks in the darkness, and his twelve years of unconsciousness has meant that he is fortunate to not remember the worst that the darkness can offer.

No, Ventus has no fear of the dark corners of his bedroom, and finds that sleep comes easy to him.

It's the fear of not waking up.

He has been asleep for no longer than a few hours when he feels as though his eyes slip open, and his heart thunders in his chest at the sight of a dark shadow slipping through the window into the corner of his room. The only light comes from the moon outside his window, but it throws the oddity up in startling clarity. It is tall and thin and shapeless, faceless. Ventus lays there in terror, trying desperately to curl his fingers, to summon the keyblade for protection.

But Ventus cannot move, and the shadow looms closer.

And this is it, this is the fear, of never being able to wake himself up. He tries to thrash, tries to twitch and open his mouth to scream, but the shadow looms and from it burst a thousand heartless.

They come for him, crawling over him and pressing down on his chest with the weight of a boulder, and Ventus can barely breathe. Whispers run around him, into his ears and trapping him down, a constant buzz that makes his heart thud loudly and quickly in his chest. He feels cold, so cold, but he can feel himself sweating _but he cannot wake up._

The pain in his chest increases, and Ventus imagines his ribs are cracking. He struggles, trying to move, to shout or to sit up, but he's locked in his body, trapped in sleep as monsters take him. The shadow's shape defines itself, long arms reaching for his throat.

A scream lurches from his throat as he bolts upright, only to meet the still silence of his bedroom. The window is closed, and nothing lurks in the shadows.

A shout of alarm escapes him as the door to his bedroom nearly flies off its hinges, and Aqua and Terra rush to his side.

"Ven! What happened?" Aqua sits next to him on the edge of his bed, her hands automatically reaching out to pull him close. He doesn’t pull away from her, leaning in to relish the comfort that Aqua always gives so easily. Terra’s hand is heavy on his shoulder, and the look on his face is one of discomfort. It is not aimed at him, Ventus knows, but rather at the troubling situation they find themselves in.

“Bad dream?” Terra’s voice is low, as Aqua tightens her grip around his shoulders. Ventus shakes his head.

“My dreams were fine, I just… I couldn’t wake up.”

Aqua's hand is cool on the back of his neck as she looks over at Terra, and Ventus almost imagines he can hear their hearts thumping in the room. Her eyes flicker to the door, her head cocking slightly to the side, before Terra nods his head at her and lets go of Ventus' hand.

It is a wordless communication, as Terra heads to Ventus' wardrobe and grabs all five of the blankets stacked in there. Aqua smiles at Ventus and stands up, her hand moving to his shoulder to encourage him to do the same.

He understands immediately.

The blankets are not for him, who only ever needs two in the dead of winter. They're not for Aqua, who was born in Radiant Garden and raised in the balmy Land of Departure for most of her life. Nor are they for Terra, who does admittedly tend to be more sensitive to the cold than the rest of them due to being born in Agrabah.

The blankets are for all of them, because they are not spending this night apart.

Ventus follows Aqua out of his room, Terra a steady presence behind him, down the staircase and towards the lounge area. It used to be their old playroom, when Terra and Aqua were pre-teens, with games and a toy fort. It had an upgrade when Ventus arrived, and now contains comfortable chairs, huge bean bags, puzzles and books.

His Chirithy has followed them, and silently curls up on one of the giant bean bags. Aqua grabs the other three, lining them up as Terra dumps the blankets on top of them and starts to unfold them. The atmosphere is a stark difference to the early afternoon, when they had been sat in this very room laughing and reminiscing.

Aqua turns the lamps on and lowers them until they are dim enough to let them sleep, but bright enough that there aren’t many dark corners in the room. Terra lays down first, extending his arm across the bean bags as Ventus follows, his head resting below Terra’s arm and against his chest.

Aqua sandwiches herself on the other side of him, laying on her side with one hand reaching across him to rest on Terra’s stomach. They pull all five blankets over them before settling, and Ventus feels like a young child sandwiched between his parents.

Alarmingly, it is not too discomfiting a comparison.

He can feel himself slipping into one of the gaps between the bags, and although it is too close and too warm, he _does_ feel safe. His friend’s won’t let him fall into darkness, and it’s enough to let him fall asleep once more.

After a few minutes, Aqua is the next to drop off. She shares a brief smile with Terra as they both look down at Ventus, his breathing slow and even despite his being unable to move much. Terra dares to lower his other hand so that it rests atop Aqua’s, and slowly but surely her own breathing evens out.

Terra follows afterwards, but his sleep is fitful, and the dreams are more like nightmares.

* * *

They wake as the sun rises, in almost vastly different positions.

Terra has turned his back to them, his tossing and turning in the night making him move to a separate bean bag so as not to wake them. Aqua has slipped down her beanbag so that she is half on the floor, now lying on her back. Ventus has slipped between the bags completely, and only his face and left arm are visible.

They trudge into the kitchen, only to face a different nightmare.

“Uh, Aqua?” Ventus’ voice travels over from the fridges, where he is scouting for ingredients whilst Aqua looks for the pots and pans. Terra is in the garden, assessing what fruit and vegetables can be harvested.

“Yes?”

“You said this world was trapped in time, right?” At her nod, he continues. “I don’t think it worked on the milk. Or the cheese.” He doesn’t fancy the look of the speckled eggs either.

Aqua grimaces, and puts down the frying pan she was inspecting.

“Of course it didn’t.” She sounds more affronted at the inconvenience, but Ventus cocks his head to the side. How they got their food was something he never really thought about, but now that he thinks on it, there _isn’t_ anywhere to get it. It’s not like the Land of Departure has a farm or a grocers.

“Hey, where did Master Eraqus get our food?” He dares to ask, feeling silly, and Aqua frowns.

“We had twice-monthly shipments from Radiant Garden.”

Ventus suspects they’re too tired to deal with this.

* * *

It seems an odd thing to do, to return home after so long only to be on the gummi ship a day later, heading off to Radiant Garden, but they need food and supplies that the Land of Departure can’t provide.

Radiant Garden isn’t too far away, at least, and with the regeneration of the town at least they know where most things are.

Terra is still surprised, however, when he sees a familiar silveret leave a house off the main square.

“Riku?”

The younger man looks up as his name is called, and his look of surprise turns into a small smile at the sight of Terra. They had not had a chance to talk after the Keyblade Graveyard, and so Terra is pleased when Riku joins him where he stands looking over the square.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Riku’s words are quiet, but Terra laughs and motions towards the market.

“We didn’t expect to be here. But none of us thought to stock up on supplies before we returned to the castle, so Aqua and Ven are doing the rounds.”

Riku laughs, the loudness of it seeming to surprise even him, and Terra looks over at him with a curious eye.

He has heard from Aqua and Ventus what had happened to the trio of friends from the Destiny Islands. Riku’s eyes carry a sadness well hidden behind the teal depths, but Terra has heard about how the trio seemed to disintegrate even as Sora reunited the other sets. There had apparently not been much conversation between the three, and Aqua had told him how Riku had spent time at Yen Sid’s tower away from Sora and Kairi.

Aqua had told him, quietly, how one heart had broken the day that two hearts were joined by a paopu fruit.

Whatever the truth of it is, Terra had noticed even in the graveyard that the strong-hearted young boy seemed detached from the friend he so desperately wanted to protect all those years ago, and a part of it hurts Terra.

Riku should not have known the difficulties he has had. Terra should have _been_ there, should have taken him in as a student when Riku had been old enough, should have trained him as his successor.He can only be grateful that Riku has managed to soar above what Terra could have ever taught him, a Master in his own right. He is grateful, but a part of him mourns the fact that any bond between them will never be as strong as it should have been.

Whilst Terra is lost in his own musings, Riku makes his own observations, and is the first to break the silence.

“Nightmares, huh?”

Terra flinches, his eyes moving to look at Riku in alarm. The younger man shrugs. “I had them all the time, after Ansem had taken control of my body. Our nightmares are not too dissimilar, I guess.”

Scrambling for words, Terra swallows thickly. “I wasn’t expecting them to be as severe as they are. When I finally _did_ fall asleep, it became even worse.”

Riku nods, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Every time you start to doze off, you feel like it’s that brief moment before he took control? I had the same, and when I did finally sleep, I’d dream that my bones were splintering again as my body changed.”

Terra remembers with startling clarity that Ansem’s heartless had been his body shape and type, and imagines that it could not have been pleasant for a fifteen year old boy to be broken and remade to his size.

“Mine are different, I suppose. They start the same, with that loss of control, but when I sleep I remember everything he ever did to people, using my face and body to let him do it. I dreamt of his experiments on the people of this world and it…” Terra trails off, and Riku grimaces. He can only imagine, knowing what he does from the secret reports and the depth of Ansem the Wise’s hatred.

“Your friends will help. I only had DiZ to help me, and he wasn’t exactly offering hugs. All I wanted was Sora and Kairi, to help me get through it. You’ve got Aqua and Ven, and I can tell you now that they won’t ever see it as a burden, so don’t hold back from them.”

“I’ll try not to.” Terra smiles at him, and Riku returns it. They share a comfortable silence for a few more minutes, the sounds of the fountains coming over the walls being the only sound.

“Why are you here, anyway?” Terra had thought Riku would have returned to the Destiny Islands immediately.

Riku sighs.

“The Destiny Islands are my home, and they always _will_ be. But I spent so long desperate to get away from them, and although I like the peace, I don’t think I could ever go back. Without Sora and Kairi there, it’s too lonely, and if they come back, I just…”

“You don’t think you’ll have a place there, with them?”

“Exactly! I mean, Kairi and I have barely spoken since she started training with Merlin, and there’s too much unsaid between Sora and I. It would be painful, I think, and it’s just too quiet there.” Riku laughs. “I find I quite like it here. It’s not quite a city, but there’s still so much more to do and places to go.”

“So you bought a house here?” Terra asks, knowing the terrace is Riku’s. He had locked the door behind him when he left, and there are no signs of life inside when he looks over. Riku rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.

“It helps if your close friend happens to be a king, who is _real_ thankful for all the help you gave him the last couple of years.”

Terra laughs. Yes, he’s sure that’s very helpful.

“Well, I hope that whatever you choose to do now, it makes you happy.”

“Thank you. I’m waiting for the apprentices to help an old friend, but once they’re done, I’m heading back to the Islands for a few days and picking up the guys from Twilight Town on the way. You, Aqua and Ventus are more than welcome to join. I don’t think you’ll all fit in my ship, though.”

He clasps Riku’s shoulder, a genuine smile on his lips.

“You know, I think we’ll join you.”

* * *

Terra and Aqua return from the Destiny Islands a week later, on their own as Ventus has decided he wants to spend a few days in Twilight Town.

Terra might think the wish is genuine, except Ventus has spent the last few days on the islands pointedly ensuring that Terra knows how nice Aqua looks, how well she spars with Riku, and could they _please get it together and spare everyone the long looks_.

Ventus isn’t subtle, but at least with him off world Terra doesn’t need to worry about potential eavesdropping.

They have returned with ample supplies, however, and after the food is put away they decide to make the walk up the hillside to eat their dinner and watch the sunset. They sit on one of the old blankets, and if they’re closer than necessary then that’s between the two of them.

They talk for hours, long after the sun has set, and the stars are bright in the sky. The lamps light the area up nicely, and neither of them mention the fact that they are too afraid to break the moment, to head back from the warmth of each other’s company to the quiet castle.

Aqua laughs at something he says, a gentle one that makes his chest flutter. He doesn’t know how, but they’re on their backs on the blanket, and Aqua’s fingers have been laced through his own for at least an hour.

Because Aqua has always been the braver of the two, it is she who mentions it first.

His right side is warm, pressed against her arm, but he is beginning to get goosebumps on his left side, and they are naturally inclined towards the other when her voice breaks the quiet.

“Terra?”

“Hm?”

She pushes herself up halfway, leaning on her elbow to look down at him. In the light of the lamps she looks softer, especially with the light of the stars behind her.

“Are we going to talk about it?”

“It?”

For a moment he panics, irrationally thinking that now is the moment she tells him that things are too difficult, that she cannot reconcile him with the acts in his past, that their friendship is too irreparable.

Because they have twelve years of the darkest years of their life packed into bodies that have not changed, and he has lived long enough to know that maturity sometimes means that what they want isn’t something they can have.

And sometimes people become the most regretted lost opportunity, a lesson he has already watched play out in his successor.

But deep down they both know they feel the same, have done since before Ventus arrived in their lives, and Aqua knows there is no shame in that. She has never been ashamed of her feelings, even as they kept them quiet in order to pass their exams. There has always been a frankness to her emotions, though they had both agreed to an unspoken pact to never voice them as long as they were both students.

“This.” She motions to the air between them, and Terra rolls onto his side so he can look up at her properly.

“We’ve never talked about it.” He hopes it is not the wrong thing to say, because it is the truth. Terra can’t comprehend why she would want to talk about it _now_ , after everything they’ve been through, when he had so much _less_ baggage a decade ago. 

Perhaps his fear is because he knows that once they cross this line they can never go back over. He thinks of his earlier, heart-stopping panic, and knows there is a part of him that never wants to have to watch this woman walk out of his life. Crossing this line only allows feelings to deepen even further, and disaster would break him.

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t. We’ve been through a lot, Terra.”

“I know, I just…” He trails off, giving himself a moment to think of the right words. “Some days, I wake up and think of what he made me do, how I let him in, and I don’t understand how you can even look at me.”

“And yet I’m still here.” Her smile is encouraging, and she lowers one hand to trace her fingers across his. “I loved you, Terra, since I first knew what the word meant. That hasn’t changed.”

He takes her hand again, stopping the path of her fingers over his knuckles, and holds it tightly. The words are precious, a confession he has long thought lost to him, and he wants nothing more than to pull her to him and kiss her, but she deserves those words in return. She takes his silence as a contemplation, though she does not try to backtrack.

“You don’t have to feel the same, Terra. You can feel the same and not be ready, you’ve been through enough that I understand that.” And she does understand it, because they aren’t the twenty and twenty-one year olds they were twelve years ago, and they find it difficult to sleep through the night, and the fight isn’t even over yet, not really.

They can be deeply in love, and if one of them is still too haunted by the past, then that love is an impossibility. Aqua knows they cannot fix each other and does not intend to try to do that, but she knows they can help each other heal, and she’s spent too long denying herself to throw away the possibility of _them_.

“Nothing could change how I feel for you.” Terra dares to reach out to her, his fingers sliding seamlessly along her jaw to bury in her hair as the palm of his hand rests under her ear. She leans into the touch, her eyes focused on his. “But Aqua, if we cross that line and leave our friendship behind us, I don’t think we can go back.”

He wants her to be sure, because if she changes her mind he knows it will destroy his heart. But Aqua is already closer than she was before, her now free hand resting on his side.

“I don’t intend to.”

And really, how can he refuse?

Terra pulls her to him then, and Aqua moves willingly, pushing him back into the blanket and leaning down to kiss him with a tenderness that makes his stomach flutter. Her lips are soft even as he tilts her head to deepen the kiss, and Aqua straddles him with alarming ease to make herself more comfortable. One of her hands is fisted in the fabric of his shirt and her hair tickles his neck, but Terra can think of nothing else other than the fact that she is _here_ , pouring as much of herself into the kiss as she can.

His hand is resting on her back, holding her close to him, when they break for air. Aqua kisses a slow trail down his jaw, and Terra’s mind nearly shudders to a halt when his other hand runs up her bare thigh and doesn’t hit a barrier halfway up.

He’d forgotten she was out of armour, instead clad in a nice sundress that must have ridden up, and he groans. Aqua laughs into his collarbone, before kissing him deeply once more.

They do little more than kiss, because neither of them want to spend their first time together on a blanket in a field, but when they return to the castle Aqua’s gaze turns heated and Terra is grateful his pants are as loose as they are.

And when she pulls him into her room with her, there’s no illusion that they’re going to try to sleep.

* * *

Ventus returns a week later, already planning more trips with their new friends, and when he catches sight of them he loudly and pointedly says _finally_.

Things begin to return to normal: Ventus’ time away has meant he is becoming more comfortable sleeping alone, though Aqua and Terra do sometimes wake to the sound of him screaming from his sleep paralysis.

Terra still has his nightmares, as he suspects he always will, but it is easier to fall asleep when Aqua is there, and less terrifying to wake up from nightmares when he is not alone in his bed. Aqua begins to sleep easier, knowing that Terra is there to stop any darkness from reaching her.

There are no full recoveries, as time passes, until it has been four weeks since the final battle, and then six. They have years ahead to recover, and much to plan. The darkness has not disappeared, after all, and there has been no trace of Sora since Kairi returned to the Destiny Islands.

That trio remains broken, as Riku offers Kairi a place in Radiant Garden and she refuses, and Riku remains unable to return to the Islands.

They are in the kitchens one morning, several weeks after the events in the Keyblade Graveyard, when a letter from Mickey arrives. Terra brings it in as Aqua and Ventus are eating their breakfast and discussing the possibility of new students, and he swiftly leans down to kiss her on the cheek as he hands her the envelope.

Ventus beams at him, and really, Terra is impressed that the younger man has not once pretended to be grossed out by the two of them. He just seems incredibly happy for them both, something Aqua and Terra had been relieved by.

“What’s this?” Aqua asks, putting her fork down on the table and examining the seal. Ventus leans over so he can see, curious as she breaks the seal and pulls out the fancy paper.

Terra reads it over her shoulder, and the words feel like a blow to his chest. Riku has disappeared from Radiant Garden, with no trace of where he has gone or how he has left.

“Do you think he’s gone willingly?” Ventus asks, uncomfortable at the thought. Riku has been in pain, he knows, and no matter how many times Ventus and the Twilight Town group try to get him to feel better, it’s a difficult task.

But Riku has a strength most of them would find difficult to even pretend at having, and this is unusual to say the least.

“He wouldn’t have done that to Kairi. They may be going through a rough patch, with him living in Radiant Garden, but he wouldn’t have disappeared and left her alone there. Not if Sora hasn’t returned.”

“And Sora hasn’t returned?” Ventus pops a berry into his mouth, his head cocked at the letter. An uneasy feeling grows when Aqua shakes her head.

“Mickey would have mentioned it.”

The three of them look at each other, then, aware that they are nowhere near close to being better themselves, and enough of the world has hinged on their shoulders. But Riku is important to them all, and Ventus is already on his feet and getting ready to transform his keyblade.

This time, it’s their turn to save their friends.


End file.
